Author’s short abstract: Previously, we identified a specific MYB8 transcription factor that controls accumulation of defense metabolites (phenolamides) in tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) plants attacked with herbivores (insects that eat plants). This time, we used large scale analysis of gene expression (transcriptomics) and metabolites (metabolomics) to identify three novel genes that were controlled by MYB8 gene and encoded unknown acyltransferase enzymes (AT1, DH29 and CV86). By making transgenic plants deficient in expression of these MYB8-regulated genes, we show that two major phenolamides caffeoylputrescine and dicaffeoylspermidine are produced in tobacco plants by direct action of AT1 and DH29/CV86 enzymes, respectively. These findings allowed a complete reconstruction of one defense pathway against insect herbivores in tobacco plants

Experiments presented in this paper were conducted in Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany (previous workplace of I. Galis ~March 2011).